“No, you’re right. I can never hate you, but there are times I come close.”
Then she did something he was not expecting. His sister, usually so strong, burst into tears and wept into his chest. “I am so worried about you.”
“I will take care of myself.”
“I thought Mamma and Nina crazy for this decision, but I agree it is necessary now. While I believe that Mussolini must once again rule Italy, the Germans have methods that put fear into me.”
It should have been the last time he was to see Teresa, as she and her mother and sister made their tearful goodbyes to one another.
Back at Conti’s place, Toni and the rest of the group were studying maps and discussing something heatedly. Nina stayed behind to help her mother pack, to then bring her back to Conti’s, where they would secretly remain until their departure.
“Stefano,” said Alberto, who appeared to have no fear of danger, “the resistance needs our help already. We are to make a diversion because they plan to assassinate Pavolini, the leader of the Black Brigades. They have sent us a list of locations that he is visiting, including a dinner being held in his honor tomorrow night. He and his Nazi accomplices have had many of the resistance members shot, their families also. It is a chance to begin.”
“Yes,” said Conti. “We must do that.”
“I don’t know,” said Toni, who was not normally so cautious. He was trying unsuccessfully to rock his son to sleep. “I want my wife and baby gone before we do this.”
“It is an opportunity,” said Alberto, disagreeing. “There is nothing linking you at the moment. There is nothing to lead back to us.”
Stefano had agreed it was a good opportunity, yet he also felt that it was too early to begin their activities. He also wanted his family gone before they commenced operations.
They argued back and forth for the next hour before finally agreeing on a plan. Conti, Alberto, Toni, and Stefano would all go, along with other contacts they had made more recently. They kept a supply of stolen arms and ammunition in the cellar at Conti’s house. One of Conti’s friends, a member of the resistance also, owned and operated a small van that they would use for their operations, but the same vehicle and driver were needed to smuggle Julietta, Nina, and Nicolo to a church north of Rome. From there they would be taken farther south. Toni’s mother and some members of Alberto’s family had already been smuggled in previous days, as there was not enough room for all to leave at the same time.
It was decided that late in the afternoon, the driver would drop Il Furioso off at a forest on the opposite side of the ambush location, along with the materials they needed to complete their mission. The driver would remain hidden in the forest at the drop-off point and wait there until the completion of the mission to drive the group back.
The group’s plan was to lay explosives on the roads to blow up part of the road that Pavolini was traveling and thus divert him into an ambush where other members of the resistance would be waiting. They planned it, drew up maps, and it was four o’clock in the morning before they worked it all out. This operation would delay the travel of Stefano’s family by several days, since the driver was committed elsewhere in the days following. The timing change had bothered Stefano, but he was too exhausted to think any harder about it. He collapsed on the sofa and woke in the afternoon to Nina telling him that Conti was waiting.
It was a plan that in discussions sounded effective and seemed to consider all possible outcomes. But the mission failed. Not all the explosives worked, blowing up only part of the road. And Pavolini never visited those sites; only several German officials traveled to them, one sustaining a major injury, and the others raising a hunting party immediately to track down the partisans involved.
Il Furioso accepted the failure and safely returned. And by the time the night was ended, the members had covered all loose ends but one.
Present-day 1945
Stefano helps Georg up the stairs to his bed. The man is trembling, erratic, feverish, and feebleminded. Stefano has heard of these cases, but he has never seen the aftereffects of the drug to such a degree.
“His drugs are gone!” Rosalind says, flustered as she looks through the medicine bag she has brought with her to the room.
Stefano remembers the empty syringe beside Georg in the hut as Rosalind rushes downstairs, and he listens to her opening drawers and closing them again loudly. In the distance is the sound of trucks.
Georg is becoming more anxious; he scratches at his arms and shivers despite the warm air.
“Can you give him something else to sleep for now?” Stefano asks as she returns.
“I can try. But there are only tablets left. In this state, he won’t swallow these or even drink water. He will fight it. It is a process.”
“I will go and fetch Erich in the meantime,” he says, “for more of the drug he needs. Do you know where he works?”
“You won’t find him at any employment. He lives in the town, not here at the river as he tells you. His address is on the back of Monique’s photo on the wall. But you must hurry.”
He starts to ask more questions, but the noise of vehicles close by halts any further conversation. Rosalind rushes to the window.
“The Russians are back,” she says urgently. “There are more of them this time, and they have guns.”
Stefano walks to the window. He does not turn to look at Rosalind. He cannot face either of them right now.
“Stay here!” he commands.
21 June 1943
Dear Papa,
It has been too long. I have so little to tell you, and without any good news, I have not had the heart to write. I am miserable because of something that happened recently. I cannot share the details, Papa, because it is too painful to write them down.
After our last trip to the river houses, things are very different. Georg is someplace unreachable, in the bowels of some horrid battle. Rosalind refuses to answer my many letters. And Erich is very unkind. I have to admit I never liked him much, and more recently I despise him. And I have to say that I even fear him a little. I am trying to sound strong, but I am not, Papa. Sometimes I tremble when I hear him put the key in the door. He is not the same boy I met before the war. He is like an animal trained to perform a task without conscience.
The last time he came home from work, he was angry, and made me feel as if I were the cause of all his unhappiness. I feel so useless here, Papa. He takes me less often to his functions and goes alone these days. Not that I want his company, but it is something at least to pass the time.
Papa, this is not the marriage I dreamed about as a little girl. I pray for the day to come when we can go our separate ways. But for now, I must endure.
This city will have only bad memories. Always when I go out, I look for you in the streets, in the square, at the markets, hoping that you have been released, that you have begun some kind of life. I look for you everywhere.
I wish I had someone to talk to me, but it seems everyone I have ever loved has gone from my life.
Love from Monique
CHAPTER 24
ROSALIND
Stefano hurries across to the stairs and disappears down to the next level while the urgent roar of engines sounds on the track toward them. Rosalind steps closer to the attic window. They are not the same as those used for previous Russian visits, but a military truck and a passenger vehicle.